Skills-Based Volunteering

Bon Air Elementary, in Kokomo, Indiana, was crowned today as the first repeat national champion of Keep America Beautiful’s Recycle-Bowl, the national recycling competition for elementary-, middle- and high-school students, teachers and school communities.

The Common Impact team is looking forward to a year full of exciting project opportunities and innovation! To kick us off with some inspiration, we're bringing back a project with a talented team from Fidelity Investments and its nonprofit partner, Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina (RTF), whose mission is to support and partner with local universities, create jobs, and lift up all the citizens of North Carolina by providing a positive economic and social impact.

The Taproot Foundation, together with BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt and local host iVolunteer, will convene the 6th annual Global Pro Bono Summit February 6 – 9 in Mumbai, India. “Pro bono is an increasingly valuable resource for our global communities,” says Elizabeth Schwan-Rosenwald, Taproot’s Chief External Relations Officer. “The Global Pro Bono Summit offers a unique opportunity to bring together cross-sector leaders eager to innovate and expand the ways in which pro bono can be used to create social impact.”

Gabriel Abebrese and Gunnar Schoenig both volunteer with the charity App Camps, which gives young people, including refugees, the skills to start a career in tech. The two Barclaycard employees tell us about the satisfaction they get from helping the young people grow in skills and confidence – and how some are already earning money from their ideas.

Millions of families struggle to make ends meet, but through Aramark Building Community, Aramark partners with local community centers to provide solutions. Tens of thousands of employees have shared their skills and expertise to inspire healthy lifestyles and help people succeed at work. Watch the video to see Aramark volunteers at work.

KeyBank will host its annual Super Refund Saturday event on February 3, 2018, partnering with organizations in nine communities to provide free tax season and post-tax season support. For 13 years on Super Refund Saturday, KeyBank employees have worked alongside volunteers from community organizations to provide free tax preparation services to those who need it most, helping low- to moderate-income individuals and families determine their eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Citi Community Development announced today a $2.6 million investment to support free tax preparation services for eligible workers in major cities and regions across the country. Launched on National Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day, the investment will support municipal efforts to expand awareness, access and capacity of Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites during the 2018 tax season. Citi Community Development’s investment aims to help local organizations complete over 230,000 tax returns, resulting in approximately $191 million in tax refunds during the 2018 tax season. Citi also announced that volunteers from the bank will serve as tax preparers in VITA sites across the New York City region.

Last year, global outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Path of ServiceTM volunteer program, which offers employees up to 40 paid hours each year to serve in their communities. The brand finished the year strong by engaging employees at its Stratham, New Hampshire headquarters to serve 200 families through the annual Holiday Giving Tree. Other year-end service events included sorting and wrapping donated toys at Seacoast Adopt-A-Block, a local non-profit that serves low-income families, and serving meals with Gather, a New Hampshire food pantry.

Jaybeth Gonzales, Slot Supervisor at Marina Bay Sands, keeps a full schedule as a working mother and an active volunteer in her free time. As a single parent of six children, Gonzalez juggles between being a mom and her career, but she still regularly volunteers and gives back to the various organizations she is involved with. Her call to volunteerism began at an early age, growing up in the Philippines where, along with her family, she would distribute Christmas presents to the street children in Manila.

Points of Light, with support from KPMG Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service, will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 15 by engaging more than 90,000 individuals in acts of service through 1,575 service projects and civic dialogue events in more than 50 communities in partnership with local Points of Light affiliates and nonprofits across the country. MLK Day marks the beginning of the service year as hundreds of thousands of individuals will honor the memory of Dr. King by contributing their time, talent and voice to improve their communities.